UW Theatre Season Opens with Scopes Monkey Trial

Oct. 1, 2002 The University of Wyoming Department of Theatre and Dance will present the "Scopes Monkey Trial" at 7:30 nightly Oct. 8 12 and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13, on the Fine Arts Center main stage.

Tickets cost $13, or $11 for senior citizens and $6 for UW students. A panel discussion about issues raised in the play is scheduled after the Thursday, Oct. 10, performance.

Adapted and directed by UW Associate Professor William Missouri Downs, the performance is based on the original transcripts of the Scopes Monkey Trial.

According to Downs, "In 1927, John T. Scopes was arrested for teaching evolution in a public school. What followed was one of the most famous trials in United States history, as the eloquent orator and statesman William Jennings Bryan and the brilliant criminal defense attorney Clarence Darrow were locked in an intellectual and emotional battle in a Dayton, Tenn., courtroom."

The play and the movie "Inherit The Wind" were loosely based on this case, but the UW performance is more historically accurate in its examination of the evolution/creation debate, says Downs, resident playwright in UW's Department of Theatre and Dance.

Other performances this season are "Independence," Nov. 6 16; "The Nutcracker," Dec. 5 8; "The Last Night of Ballyhoo," Feb. 10 15; and "A Second Season Of Dance," March 4 7.

Single tickets and season tickets ($72, or $60 for senior citizens) can be purchased at the Fine Arts Center box office or by calling (307) 766 6666. For more information visit www.uwyo.edu/finearts/